Car-coupling.



- PATENTED MAY 7, 1907. A. M. KNAPP.

.GAR COUPLING.

' APPLICATION FILED FEB. 21, 1907.

' v INVENTOR ALBERTMJ'YNAPR By M A TTOIYNEYS ALBERT M.KNA11 or PORTLAND, OREGON.

CAR-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May '7, 1907.

Application filed February 21, 1907. Serial No. 358,539.

To all] whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT M. KNAPP, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon, have invented an .lmprove ment in Car-Couplings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in car couplings of the Janney type. The curved locking arms, or so-called knuckles, of such couplings, are subject to wear, owing to lateral and vertical motion of the cars, so that they are ultimately weakened and rendered useless, and must then be discarded and new onessubstituted. To avoid this and the attendant expense, it has been proposed to provide the inner sides or faces of the knuckles with a removable wear-piece which can be discarded when worn out, and

a new one substituted without the necessity of doing away with the entire knuckle.

My invention is an improvement in this line, and is embodied in the novel construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

' In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view of the main portion of a coupling arm, or knuckle. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 33 of Fig.

' 2. i Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the filling and wear-piece applied to the knuckle. Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the recess in the knuckle which is filled by the removable wear-piece.

The knuckle proper A may be constructed in the usualform, and, as shown best in Fig. 5, it is provided on the inner side, adjacent to the end of its nose, with a vertical groove or recess whose sides a are inclined outward, the back a being flat. At the center of this vertical recess a is formed a smaller one a", which, as shown in Fig. 2, extends inward a short distance. The filling and wear-piece B, which is shown detached in Fig. 4, has a form corresponding to the vertical and-cen tral recesses before described. That is to say, the sides I) of the wear-piece are incljned corresponding to the sides a of the vertical recess, and a lug 1) projects from the flat back of the wear-piece and is in the form of a truncated wedge, whereby it is adapted to main or vertical recess, but the back of the apertured lug I) does not extend to or come in contact with the back of the central recess a in the knuckle. It will be further noted that the back or rear side of the aperture b in the lug b is not exactly in alinement with the back of the key seat-see Fig. 2and, consequently, when the wedge-key C is inserted it is in contact with the back of the lug aperture and therefore draws the wear-piece B firmly to its place, where it is held securely until worn out. If, however, from any cause, slight looseness should at any time occur, the wear-piece may be easily tightened by a slight blow on the head of the Wedge-key C. I thus provide the knuckle A with a wearpiece 13 at the point where the greatest wear occurs, and the knuckle is therefore not reduced or weakened at the point of curvature of the same where the greatest strength is required. When the base B has become worn to such a degree as to require it, it may be easily detached and a new one substituted therefor. It is preferably constructed of wrought iron, and may be produced at very small cost.

hat I claim is 1. The combination, with a knuckle having a vertical recess whose sides are inclined outward, and a small central recess extending inward from the main recess, and a keyseat in rear of the main recess but alined with the central one, of a filling and wear-piece whose sides are inclined corresponding to the main recess, and provided on its back with an apertured lug which extends rearward a less distance than the depth of the central recess in the knuckle, and a wedge-key adapted for insertion in the key-seat in the knuckle and through the coincident opening in the lug of the wear-piece, as shown and described.

2. The combination, with a knuckle havmg its nose provided on the inner side with a vertical recess having a flat back and outand having inclined sides, and a key for sewardly inclined sides, a central recess excuring the wear-piece in place, substantially 1o tending inward from the main one and havas described.

in also inclined sides and a verticalkeyseat formed in rear of tlie main recess and in ALBERT KNAPP' alinement with the central one, of the wear- Witnesses:

piece having a fiat back and inclined sides, WM. A. CLELAND, and a lug provided with a central aper tn're" .7 B. M. PETTIGREW. 

